Hercules, son of Zeus and champion of humankind, gazed in horror as he realized he had just committed the most unspeakable crime imaginable. The goddess Hera, who hated Hercules for being born of her husband’s adultery, had stricken him with a temporary curse of madness. And his own family were the casualties.
海克力斯,宙斯之子, 人類中的冠軍, 眼中盡是恐懼,因為他發現, 他剛犯下了難以想像的可怕罪行。 女神海拉很痛恨海克力士, 因為海克力士是 她的丈夫的私生子, 海拉對他施加了短暫的發狂詛咒。 他自己的家人成了受害者。
Consumed by grief, Hercules sought out the Oracle of Delphi, who told him the path to atonement lay with his cousin, King Eurystheus of Tiryns, a favorite of Hera’s. Eurystheus hoped to humiliate Hercules with ten impossible tasks that pitted him against invincible monsters and unfathomable forces. Instead, the king set the stage for an epic series of adventures that would come to be known as the Labors of Hercules.
因悲慟而憔悴, 海克力士去找了 德爾菲神廟的神諭者, 神諭者告訴他, 贖罪之路在於他的表親, 提端斯的尤里司修斯王, 他是海拉的最愛。 尤里司修斯想要用十項 不可能的任務來羞辱海克力士, 讓他去對抗無敵的怪物 和深不可測的力量。 結果反而是為後來 為人所知的一系列史詩冒險 「海克力士英雄偉績」 設下了舞台。
The first labor was to slay the Nemean Lion, who kidnapped women and devoured warriors. Its golden fur was impervious to arrows, but Hercules cornered the lion in its dark cave, stunned it with a club, and strangled it with his bare hands. He found no tool sharp enough to skin the beast, until the goddess Athena suggested using one of its own claws. Hercules returned to Tiryns wearing the lion’s hide, frightening King Eurystheus so much that he hid in a wine jar. From then on, Hercules was ordered to present his trophies at a safe distance.
第一項偉績是殺死涅墨亞獅子, 牠綁架女性,吞食戰士。 箭無法穿過牠的黃金皮毛, 但海克力士把獅子困在 牠黑暗洞穴裡的角落, 用棍棒將牠打昏, 再徒手將牠勒死。 他找不到夠銳利的工具 來剝下這隻野獸的皮, 直到女神雅典娜 建議用牠自己的爪子。 海克力士回到提端斯, 身上披著那隻獅子的獸皮, 把尤里司修斯王嚇壞了, 躲到酒罈後面。 從那之後,海克力士就被命令 在呈獻他的戰利品時, 要保持一段安全距離。
The second target was the Lernaean Hydra, a giant serpent with many heads.
第二個目標是勒拿九頭蛇,
Hercules fought fiercely, but every time he cut one head off, two more grew in its place. The battle was hopeless until his nephew Iolaus thought to cauterize the necks with fire, keeping the heads from regrowing. The dead serpent’s remains became the Hydra constellation.
牠是隻巨型的多頭大蛇。 海克力士無懼地戰鬥, 但每當他斬下一個頭, 同一個地方就會再長出兩個頭來。 這場仗沒有希望, 直到他的姪子伊奧勞斯想到 可以用火去燒灼蛇的脖子, 讓頭無法再長出來。 大蛇死後的遺體變成了長蛇星座。
Instead of slaying a beast, Hercules next had to catch one, alive. The Ceryneian Hind was a female deer so fast it could outrun an arrow. Hercules tracked it for a year, finally trapping it in the northern land of Hyperborea. The animal turned out to be sacred to Artemis, goddess of the hunt, and Hercules swore to return it. When Eurystheus saw the hind, he demanded to keep it instead, but as soon as Hercules let go, the animal ran to its mistress. Thus, Hercules completed his task without breaking his promise.
海克力士的下一個任務 不是要殺死野獸,而是要活捉。 刻律涅牝鹿是一隻母鹿, 速度比箭還快。 海克力士花了一年時間追蹤牠, 終於在極北之地 許珀耳玻瑞亞將牠困住。 結果發現這隻鹿對於 狩獵女神阿緹密絲而言非常神聖, 海克力士發誓會歸還牠。 尤里司修斯看到這隻鹿時 卻命令留下牠來, 但海克力士才一放手, 這隻鹿就跑向牠的女主人去了。 因此,海克力士完成了這項任務, 也沒有破壞他的承諾。
The fourth mission was to capture the Erymanthian boar, which had ravaged many fields. Advised by the wise centaur Chiron, Hercules trapped it by chasing it into thick snow.
第四個任務是要捕捉 厄律曼托斯山的野豬, 牠蹂躪了許多田地。 依據半人半馬凱隆的建議, 海克力士追趕牠到積雪 很厚的地方,將牠困住。
For the fifth task, there were no animals, just their leftovers. The stables where King Augeas kept his hundreds of divine cattle had not been maintained in ages. Hercules promised to clean them in one day if he could keep one-tenth of the livestock. Augeas expected the hero to fail. Instead, Hercules dug massive trenches, rerouting two nearby rivers to flow through the stables until they were spotless.
第五個任務,沒有任何動物, 只有牠們留下的東西。 奧吉亞斯王用來養 數百隻神聖小牛的畜舍 長年都沒有維護。 海克力士保證會在 一天內清理乾淨, 條件是十分之一的家畜要給他。 奧吉亞斯預期這位英雄會失敗。 結果,海克力士反而 挖了巨大的溝渠, 將兩條鄰近的河流 重新導向,流過畜舍, 直到畜舍毫無汙點為止。
Next came three more beastly foes, each requiring a clever strategy to defeat. The carnivorous Stymphalian birds nested in an impenetrable swamp, but Hercules used Athena’s special rattle to frighten them into the air, at which point he shot them down. No mortal could stand before the Cretan bull’s mad rampage, but a chokehold from behind did the trick. And the mad King Diomedes, who had trained his horses to devour his guests, got a taste of his own medicine when Hercules wrestled him into his own stables. The ensuing feast calmed the beasts enough for Hercules to bind their mouths.
接著是三個更野蠻的對手, 每個都需要用 聰明的策略才能打敗。 肉食性的斯廷法利斯湖怪鳥 在無法進入的沼澤中築巢, 但海克力士用雅典娜的 特殊聲響把牠們嚇飛起來, 在那一刻把牠們射下來。 沒有人能夠在克里特 公牛的暴怒之下存活, 但從背後鎖喉就能解決牠。 還有瘋狂的戴奧米迪斯王, 他訓練他的馬去吞食他的客人, 海克力士把他丟向他自己的馬廄, 以其人之道還治其人之身。 接下來的饗宴讓野獸都安靜下來, 足以讓海克力士綁住牠們的嘴巴。
But the ninth labor involved someone more dangerous than any beast, Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons. Hercules was to retrieve the belt given to her by her father Ares, the god of war. He sailed to the Amazon land of Themyscira prepared for battle, but the queen was so impressed with the hero and his exploits that she gave the belt willingly.
但第九項偉績的對象 比任何野獸都還要危險, 希波呂忒,亞馬遜人的女王。 海克力士要取回她的父親 戰神阿瑞斯給予她的腰帶。 他航行到天堂島 亞馬遜,準備作戰, 但女王對於這位英雄 和他的功勛印象深刻, 自願把腰帶給了他。
For his tenth labor, Hercules had to steal a herd of magical red cattle from Geryon, a giant with three heads and three bodies. On his way, Hercules was so annoyed by the Libyan desert heat that he shot an arrow at the Sun. The sun god Helios admired the hero’s strength and lent his chariot for the journey to the island of Erytheia. There, Hercules fought off Geryon’s herdsman and his two-headed dog, before killing the giant himself.
第十項偉績, 海克力士必須要向革律翁 竊取一群魔法紅牛, 革律翁是個巨人, 有三個頭和三個身體。 在路上,利比亞沙漠的酷熱 讓海克力士很煩惱, 他把一支箭射向太陽。 太陽神赫利俄很欣賞 這位英雄的力量, 把他的馬車借給海克力士, 讓他前往厄律忒亞島。 在那裡,海克力士 擊退了革律翁的牧人, 以及他的雙頭犬, 然後才殺死了巨人本身。
That should have been the end. But Eurystheus announced that two labors hadn’t counted: the Hydra, because Iolaus had helped Hercules kill it, and the stables, because he’d accepted payment. And so, the hero set about his eleventh task, obtaining golden apples from the garden of the Hesperides nymphs.
應該就到此為止了。 但尤里司修斯宣稱 有兩項偉績不算數: 九頭蛇,因為伊奧勞斯 協助了海克力士殺掉牠, 還有畜舍,因為他收了報酬。 於是,這位英雄又去 執行第十一項任務, 從赫斯帕里得斯女神的 花園取得金蘋果。
Hercules began by catching the Old Man of the Sea and holding the shape-shifting water-god until he revealed the garden’s location. Once there, the hero found the titan Atlas holding up the heavens. Hercules offered to take his place if Atlas would retrieve the apples. Atlas eagerly complied, but Hercules then tricked him into trading places again, escaping with apples in hand.
海克力士一開始先去抓大海老人, 挾持這位能改變形體的海神, 直到他招出花園的所在。 到了那裡之後,這位英雄就發現 泰坦神阿特拉斯支撐著天。 海克力士提議,若阿特拉斯能取回 蘋果,自己就去代替他的位置。 阿特拉斯很熱切接受了,但 海克力士又再次騙他交換位置, 帶著蘋果逃走。
The twelfth and final task was to bring back Cerberus, the three-headed hound guarding the underworld. Helped by Hermes and Athena, Hercules descended and met Hades himself. The lord of the dead allowed Hercules to take the beast if he could do it without weapons, which he achieved by grabbing all three of its heads at once. When he presented the hound to a horrified Eurystheus, the king finally declared the hero’s service complete.
第十二個任務,也是最後一個, 是要把地獄犬帶回來, 牠是看守地獄的三頭獵犬。 在赫爾墨斯和雅典娜的協助下, 海克力士下地獄去見黑帝斯本人。 這位死者之王允許 海克力士帶走這頭野獸, 條件是他不能使用武器, 海克力士一次抓住三個頭, 成功帶走地獄犬。 當他把這隻獵犬帶給 嚇壞的尤里司修斯時, 尤里司修斯終於宣佈 這位英雄的服務完成了。
After 12 years of toil, Hercules had redeemed the tragic deaths of his family and earned a place in the divine pantheon. But his victory held an even deeper importance. In overcoming the chaotic and monstrous forces of the world, the hero swept away what remained of the Titans’ primordial order, reshaping it into one where humanity could thrive. Through his labors, Hercules tamed the world’s madness by atoning for his own.
在十二年的辛苦之後, 海克力士為他家人的 不幸死亡贖了罪, 並在神聖的眾神之廟 賺得了一個位置。 但他的勝利還有更深刻的重要性。 透過克服世界上混亂 且可怕的力量, 這位英雄也掃除了 剩下的泰坦原始秩序, 將它重塑成為人類 也能夠興盛的新秩序。 透過他的偉績, 海克力士在為自己的瘋狂贖罪的 過程中,也馴服了世界的瘋狂。